What test equip. do you use to tweek gain stages?

[escopunk]

Curious what the audio gods use to tweak individual gain stage, I have resistor decade boxes, cap select boxes, custom 3 individual channel resistor/cap box for things like cathode resistor and bypass selection and monitor from my custom built electronic stethoscope. and of course my scope, this is of little use with dialing in a guitar amp gain stage.

Dummy load and electronic stethoscope

The guts

The Lab

And of course the LAB anti-radiation-anti wife helmet

[DF96]

I find a scientific calculator and data sheets are quite useful.

[dchisholm]

Originally Posted by DF96

I find a scientific calculator and data sheets are quite useful.

Yes . . . and a good circuit simulation program with trustworthy component models. If the prototype behaves like the simulator says it should, there's no need to play with the decade boxes. If not . . . the 'scope and function generator are the first tools used to find the source of the discrepancy.

Dale

[amptech]

interesting collection of equipment... sometimes we build our own test gear and learn more from it than just buying it!

Years ago I used to service monster heavy duty amps and used cooker rings for test loads..

[RevMen]

I used to have a Seasound Solo EX, with the expander. I loved the blue color. It's a shame they went out of business, that was good stuff.

[tvrgeek]

I add my PC based spectrum analyzer, TrueRTA to about any measurement. Nothing I can afford beats it to see the effect on harmonic distortion. Really handy in tube circuits you are trying to balance.